Warrant vocalist Jani Lane found dead at 47

Warrant vocalist Jani Lane, the man who foisted "Cherry Pie" and "Heaven" on rock in the hair-metal heyday of the late '80s, has been found dead in a Comfort Inn in Woodland Hills. He was 47. The cause of death is currently unknown.

Lane, somewhat morbidly given the name John Kennedy Oswald when he arrived Feb. 1, 1964, was not only the voice and principal songwriter of Warrant's best-known hits, he was also the video-ready face of the band. His long blond hair and boyish looks were just as essential to his success - at a time when Poison, Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe and Guns N' Roses were all the rage - as any of the music on Warrant's chief albums, 1989's Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich and 1990's Cherry Pie.

But once 1992's Dog Eat Dog arrived, the grunge explosion had decimated the popularity and future prospects of those late-'80s rock bands (only Bon Jovi continued to thrive, though Crüe and GNR eventually resurfaced). Lane left the band shortly after that release, only to return in 1994 and carry on with Warrant for two more original albums plus two remake collections, one of itself (1999's Greatest & Latest), another of other artists (2001's Under the Influence).

The past decade Lane was mostly famous for infamy: a drunken driving arrest, a stint on VH1's Celebrity Fit Club. Three years ago he was part of a hard-rock supergroup, Saints of the Underground, featuring other former members of Warrant and Ratt; they issued one album, Love the Sin, Hate the Sinner. Last year he toured with Great White, filling in for Jack Russell.

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